Land of Mine, recommendation.
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FatCat
Well-known member
I’ll give that a go - I just watched this earlier which I thought was an interesting story.
en.m.wikipedia.org
The 12th Man (film) - Wikipedia
Redwurzel
Well-known member
I posted in 2017 about Land of Mine when I saw it in the cinema. It was difficult to watch at times when the German POW boys were trying to detonate land mine by hand without any equipment. 14 teenage boys in the film were given about 15,000 mines to detonate and dispose of in 1945/6 along part of the coast. The mines had been laid by the Germany Army to stop an invasion of Western Denmark by the Allies. The German boys aged 15 &16 had been rounded up at the end of the war by the Allies. They were in German uniforms and were been used by the German Army as a last line of defence in the Spring of 1945. The Danes used 4000 German prisoners in all to clear mines, 2,000 of the prisoners were killed by the mines or seriously maimed.
The film tried to show both sides of what was happening - the Germans had planted the mines and Germans had committed atrocities against Danish civilians (not shown) during their occupation leaving a taste of anger. The mines made the coast line unusable. I suspect the Danes had little equipment in 1945/6 to move the mines. However the film also showed what I consider excessive cruelty to the German boys e.g. given them a lack of food and then a farmers wives wife laying out food that was laid with rat poisin to kill some of the boys knowing they were starving. Danish solders making the boys drink the solders urine, promising the boys freedom after so many mines were cleared and forcing them to do more. I began the suspect the mine clearence was a form of excessive punishment against the German nation that was taken out on the boys. The Dane (in British Para Uniform) who was in charge of the boys changed his attitude after a few months arguing with his fellow Danes (who had almost dehumanised the boys).
More me like the film/book the Reader it showed walked the line between what is good and bad and how a relative innocent can be abused by the so called good guys as well as the bad guys. This made the film very hard hitting and questioning of our own actions in life and be careful of dehumanising large groups of others just because they have dehumanised us.
The film tried to show both sides of what was happening - the Germans had planted the mines and Germans had committed atrocities against Danish civilians (not shown) during their occupation leaving a taste of anger. The mines made the coast line unusable. I suspect the Danes had little equipment in 1945/6 to move the mines. However the film also showed what I consider excessive cruelty to the German boys e.g. given them a lack of food and then a farmers wives wife laying out food that was laid with rat poisin to kill some of the boys knowing they were starving. Danish solders making the boys drink the solders urine, promising the boys freedom after so many mines were cleared and forcing them to do more. I began the suspect the mine clearence was a form of excessive punishment against the German nation that was taken out on the boys. The Dane (in British Para Uniform) who was in charge of the boys changed his attitude after a few months arguing with his fellow Danes (who had almost dehumanised the boys).
More me like the film/book the Reader it showed walked the line between what is good and bad and how a relative innocent can be abused by the so called good guys as well as the bad guys. This made the film very hard hitting and questioning of our own actions in life and be careful of dehumanising large groups of others just because they have dehumanised us.
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tripleheader
Well-known member
Saw the film and it was impressive. It shows how war de-humanises people, both military and civilian. But then spins that theory on it's head and brings out some of mans best traits towards his fellow man.
Redwurzel
Well-known member
I don't think we used POWs to clear mines, after the war had finished as well. I would not have thought it was illegal under Geneva convention regulations. I can understand the Danes were angry and were impatient to get back to normal, but you have to keep yiour decency two wrongs don't make a right.
We did hold back German prisoners for over 3.5 years after the war had finished. I would have thought 12 months was long enough to do Nazification checks which suggests we were using some of them as cheap labour and/or to punish.
We did hold back German prisoners for over 3.5 years after the war had finished. I would have thought 12 months was long enough to do Nazification checks which suggests we were using some of them as cheap labour and/or to punish.
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